Mistaken Identity Causes Jersey City Man To Be Wrongfully Arrested For A Second Time

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JERSEY CITY, N.J. (CBSNewYork) — A Jersey City man is free after being wrongfully arrested for a second time. It was a case of mistaken identity that Antonio Salvador has come to know all too well.

“It was the worst food ever. You only go outside for 30 minutes,” he told CBS 2’s Alice Gainer on Friday.

Salvador was released into the arms of his girlfriend and 2-year-old daughter on Friday morning. He spent a week in jail after police mistakenly arrested him for robbing a home in Newark.

On Sunday night Salvador was on his way to pick up his family for Father’s Day when he was pulled over for what he thought was a broken mirror on his car.

“They stopped me, they said I had a warrant in Essex County, but I told them that it’s the wrong guy,” he said.

For Salvador it was a case of deja vu. In 2012 he was arrested for the same robbery and spent a night in jail. Following that mix-up he was given a piece of paper to show police in case he was stopped again. He showed police the paper on Sunday but was told that it wasn’t enough.

Salvador’s girlfriend, Gabriella Vizcaino, said she feared the worst.

“Some people do a lot of years by mistake, and they find out too late,” she said.

Police were actually looking for a different man, Anthony Berrera. Berrera is already behind bars for another crime, but has been known to use the alias Antonio Salvador.

On Thursday a judge apologized to the real Salvador and ordered him to be released. He was eventually let go on Friday morning.

“He said ‘Oh we apologize for confusing you with the person that it is,'” Salvador said.

The judge also signed a letter for Salvador to carry around with him. The letter contains pictures of both men, and is intended to prevent this type of arrest from happening again.